TreeAlive
‹ Sites and Monuments Record, Ireland

Sites and Monuments Record · Ireland

Ringfort - rath

Simonstown (Farbill By.), County Westmeath, Ireland

Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915) covering the location of Ringfort - rath, Simonstown, County Westmeath, with a pin at the register's coordinates
Ordnance Survey six-inch map, 2nd edition (1888–1915), covering this location. Courtesy of the National Library of Scotland. The pin is ours, placed from the register's coordinates.

The record

Townland
Simonstown (Farbill By.)
County
Westmeath
Country
Ireland
First-edition OS map
Hachured
Latest-edition OS map
Hachured
Coordinates
53.52177, -7.12538
SMR number
WM020-130----

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

4 historical maps cover this location, the earliest the 1790 map "Composite: Ireland." (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries).

Historical maps covering this location

  • 1790 · Composite: Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1811 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1869 · Ireland. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
  • 1891 · Ireland 16 (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Get directions ↗

This record in the National Monuments Service's Historic Environment Viewer ↗

The National Monuments Service's description

Situated on a slight rise, in gently undulating pasture, overlooked by higher ground to NW and N. Depicted on the revised 1913 ed. OS 25-inch map as an irregular oval-shaped earthwork (approx. dims 54m N-S; 50m E-W). Monument described in 1970 as a roughly circular-shaped area enclosed by a substantial inner bank, the slight remains of an intervening fosse and an outer bank. The inner bank is best preserved from SSE-SW-W-NW, it is almost reduced to a scarp from NNE-SE and has been removed from NW-N-NNE in relatively modern times. A gap (Wth at top 7.6m; basal Wth 1.3m) at ENE presumably marks the entrance. There are possible remains of internal stone facing along the inner edge of the bank on the N side of the gap. Other gaps are at SSE and SW. A slight intervening fosse and a short segment of an outer bank are visible at WNW. A modern fence extends just outside the perimeter from WNW-N-NNE. A similar fence extends outside the bank from ESE-S-SSW and it appears to have been built along the outer edge of a possible fosse. There the ground outside the bank has been disturbed in relatively modern times on the E and W sides. The interior has a gentle WSW-facing slope. Monument is visible as a tree-covered earthwork on Digital Globe aerial photography.

Compiled by Alison McQueen, Vera Rahilly and Caimin O’Brien.

Date of upload: 09 July 2019

Nearby in the register

Other entries of the same register within about three miles of this one, by straight line.

Sites and Monuments Record data: National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Record text is reproduced unchanged. National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland · CC BY 4.0
See your own family's places on a living map